FARRELL Housing project receives approval for second phase

Fifty-three housing units are already built; the second phase will add 34.
SHARON, Pa. -- The U.S. Department of Housing & amp; Urban Development has given the Mercer County Housing Authority permission to launch a second phase of its HOPE VI community redevelopment project in Farrell.
The project, which will have a total cost of about $30 million, is replacing 100 barracks-style public-housing apartments in the Steel City Terrace complex on Spearman Avenue with 145 housing units that spread into the community beyond the old Steel City boundaries.
The project will eventually include 26 single-family homes built for sale.
The authority secured a $9 million HOPE VI grant from HUD to help finance the project.
The authority has a partnership with Falbo-Penrose of Pittsburgh to build the new housing. The first phase, 53 rental units in buildings housing just three or four apartments each, has been completed.
What's next
The second phase, with a cost of about $7.7 million, calls for the construction of an additional 34 rental units to be built in the neighborhoods surrounding the old Steel City site, said L. DeWitt Boosel, authority executive director.
Some site work has already begun.
The authority has bought the properties needed for the new housing, and any existing houses on those properties have been demolished.
Phase 2 will use up about $3.6 million of the HOPE VI money and will rely on $3.7 million in federal tax credits to provide the bulk of the remaining financing.
Tax credits secured for the project can be sold to banks and other financial entities looking for tax write-offs.
The developer will also have to put in nearly $300,000.